Pile-delivery governor



C, G. PRITCHARD.

PILE DELIVERY GOVERNOR.

APPLICATION FILED DEc.20, I9I9.

Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL G. IPRITCHARD, WARREN, OHIO, ASSIGNOR'TO THE HARRIS AUTOMATIC :PRESS COMPANY, 0F CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO,

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented Augn, 1921.

Application vfiled December 20, 1919. Serial No. 346,219.

To all whom t may concern:

B e it known that I, CARL G. PRITCHARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Warren, in the county of rlrumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pile-Delivery Governors, of which the following is a speciiication, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the governing devices usually embodied in sheet-delivery mechanism employed inl connection with printing or like machines for taking the sheets or stock from the press or machine and transferring same to a pile receiving table which shall be automatically lowered to accommodate the growth of the pile of sheets as they are necessarily deposited upon such table, and my invention particularly relates to the control and actuation of the table-lowering means. Y

The objects of my invention are, among other things, to provide an improved pile delivery governor, or a mechanism which will be operatively connected either with the delivery mechanism, or with the printingpress proper, or even with an independent source of power, to automatically and intermittently inaugurate the action of the tablelowering means whenever the growth of the pileJ of sheets on such table exceeds a predetermined height, the action of such tablelowering means beingy primarily controlled by a reciprocating detector arm that may be j brought, if required, into contact with the outer margin of the pile after each sheet has .been delivered tothe pile through the action of the delivery mechanism proper in each cycle of operation, though such detector is not usually brought into actual contact with the pile until the height thereofv necessitates the lowering of the table. of my invention is to provide a simpified form of pile delivery governor which will have a direct control on the table-lowering means, and will* require no manual adjustment or variation in its action for different thicknesses of sheets, the extent of the tablelowering movements `when the mechanism is actually brou ht into action being always the same, thoug the action itself is intermittent, depending on whether the parts are A further object brought into operative relation by the pile itself.

An important feature of novelty in my pile delivery governor comprises a novel mechanism in which the action of the growing pile itself becomes the inaugurating as well as controlling element in my vdevice when the table-lowering means proper should be brought into operation; no change 1s ever required in such table-lowering means to vary the extent of its movement in any particular cycle of operation, nor is it necessary to maintain any relation with the sheetfeeding mechanism or the printing-press proper to secure proper regulation of the action of such table-lowering means, except when the governor mechanism is operatively connected with such source of power, thereby eliminating the necessity of special control devices when the `press is being run without printing or delivery of sheets. Y

A further feature of novelty and advanage in my improved device is that the detector arm need only contact with the pile at comparatively infrequent intervals (once in 20 to 50 sheets when cardboard is being used, or once in 100 to 200 sheets ofpaper, wholly depending upon the thickness ofthe' stock) I this feature obviates the constant objection to devices of this character by minimizing' invention comprises the construction and arrangement of operating parts herein shownand hereafter to be described as one embodiment of my invention and then set `forth in the appended claims. j

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a sheet-delivery mchanism showing same equipped with myimproved pile delivery governor;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view lllustraty15 upright standards 4 and 5 which support two 'equally spaced-apart horizontal members 6 likewise supported upon the vertical stand-1 ards 7 (only one such horizontal member 6 and standard 7 f being shown in Fig. 1). Upon the horizontal bar 8 secured to the standard 4 are journaled the sprocket wheels 9 and 10 around which the endless sprocket chains 11v ass (only vone set being shown) in carrying -t e sucesslve sheets from theJ printing or other like machine. `The chains 11 move upwardly in the direction of/the'arrow in carrying the sheets and the upper loo of" the chains passes around the sprocket w eel 12 journaled in the bracket 13 secured tothe standard 4. The horizontally disposed end-h less sprocket chains 14 (only one being shown) revolve in the direction of the arrow aboutthesprocket-wheels15and 16 'journaled in the horizontal members 6 as shown in Fig. 1, Such chains 14 being driven from -a gear V 17 on the sprocket-wheel 12 by means of the sprocket chain 18 passin-g around a sprocket 15 on the gear 19. The grippers 20 mounted above the pitch line of thechains 14 take the successive sheets from the chains 11 as the latter pass around the sprocket wheel 12A as shown, and carry the successive sheets to the left in Fig. 1, depositing same on the pilereceiving table 21 to form the pile 22 when the leading edge of the .sheet contacts with 'vertical hlnged guard 23 mounted on the horizontal member 6 as. shown in Fig; 1.

Since these are common forms of printing -machinery construction and are vwell-known -50 in the art, they need not be more fully described, it being suiiicient ,to note that the successive sheets are taken from the press b grippers (not shown) on the delivery chains 11 .and then transferred to the horlzontally disposed chains 14 to be thereafter deposited on the table 21 to form the pile 22.

The pile-receiving table 21, upon which the sheets or stock are stacked to form the pile 22, is shown suspended by supporting chains 24 and, 25 which pass over idler wheels 26 and 27 and are then wound around sprocket wheels 28 and 29 secured to the as shown in Fig. 2.

' 34, being left-hand and right-hand threads respectively, as shown in Fig. 2. The worms 33 and 34 engage and coact with the worm-gears 35 and 36 respectively mounted on the shafts 30 and 31.

The Imeans for automatically lowering the table 21 to compensate for the gradual growth o-f the pile of sheets upon such table comprises the following mechanism: Journaled in the bracket 13 is the shaft 37 which carries the gear 38 engaging with the gear 39 secured to the shaft 40 of the sprocketwheel 12, the size of the respective gears being such that the shaft 37 makes one revolution to each sheet delivered from the chains 11 to the chains 14, or in other words, during one cycle of operation of the sheet-delivery mechanism. Mounted on the shaft 37 is the cam 41 which engages the cam roller 42 on the outer end of the rock-arm 43 pivoted on a stud in the bracket 13, the roller 42 being held in engagement with the cam '41 by a spring (not shown) coiled around the stud and bearing upon the rock-arm 43. Theouter end of the arm 43 is connected by the link 44 to the rock-arm 45 carried by the bracket 13, which arm 45 carries the rod 46 pivotally secured to the outer end of the rock-lever47 loosely mounted on the shaft 32 as shown innFigs. 1 and 3. Referring more particularly to Fig. 3, the inner or lefthand end of the lever 47 carries the upwardly-extending pivoted pawl 48 which is adapted to engage the ratchet 49 keyed to the shaft 32 through the action of the light spring 50 bearing on such pawl as shown in Fig. 3. However the pawl 48-is normally held out ofengagement with the teeth of the ratchet 49by having its outer end lightly engage with the notch 51 formed in the inwardly projecting lug 52 formed on the under side of the oscillating guard plate 53 loosely mounted on the shaft 32. To reset the pawl 48 in the notch 51 after engagement with the ratchet 49 the heel 54 of the pawl 48 is beveled as shown in Fig. 3 and is adapted to Contact with the pin 55 fixed in the frame 4 upon .the downward return movement of the pawl 48 While in engagement with theratchet 49 after its upward stroke in moving the ratchet 49 in a clockwise direction to operate' the table-lowering means. The outer end of the guard plate 53 pivotally carries the upright rod 56 pivoted to the bell-lever 57 mounted on the bracket lower end of the lever 60 is constructed to provide the detector arm 62 which extends inwardly toward the pile 22 adjacent the guard 23, the outer end 63 of the @rm 62 be-l ing upwardly inclined-to allow the successive sheets deposited ony the table to be properly alined beneath the arm and against the guard 23. However the lower pile-contacting point 64 inside the end 63, as shown in Fig. 1, is arranged so as to contact with the pile 22, as the arm 62 is alternately raised and lowered by the oscillating guard plate 53 in each cycle of operation, close to the leading edge of the sheet upon the gripper margin thereof where no printing appears. l

The operation of the hereinbefore described pile delivery governor mechanism is substantially as follows: When the successive sheets a-re being delivered to the table 21 by the chains 11 and 14 and deposited on the table to form the pile 22, the oscillating rock-lever 47 makes a single reciprocation with each sheet delivered upon the pile 22 or during each cycle of operation bf the delivery mechanism through the devices heretofore described. The oscillation of this rock-lever 47 lby means of the underlying pawl 48 normally held in enga-gement with the notch 51 on the guard plate 53'through the weight of such plate and the rod and lever connections causes the plate 53 to be lifted and lowered, thereby simultaneously raising and lowering the detector arm 62 from and to the surface of the pile 22. When the gradual growth of the pile 22 rises to such an extent as to interrupt the normal lowering of the arm 62, such interference by the pile immediately arrests the downward movement of the guard plate 53 thereby allowing the pawl 48 to slip off the notch 51 and enter the ratchet 49 through the force of the spring 50. Upon the up- 40 ward stroke of the pawl 48 the ratchet 49 is rotated clockwise to lower the table 21 by partially rotating the Worms 33 and 34 through the shaft 32 thereby actuating the shafts 30 and 31 through the'gears 35 and 36 to unwind the chains 24 and 25 carried by the sprocket wheels 28 and 29. As the heel 54 of the pawl 48 reaches the lower limit of its return stroke (the pawl being in contact with the ratchet 49), such heel 1s engaged bythe pin 55 to cause the upper end of the pawl 48 to rise from the ratchet 49 and swing toward the left sufficiently to allow the guard plate 53 to resume its nor- I mal engaged position with such pawl by having the latter slip into the notch 51.

It will be observed that the action of my pile delivery governor is not only automatic but also intermittent, and that such governor is automatically controlled and actuated through the rowth of the pile itself limiting the norma oscillating movements of the detector arm. Further that when this detector armis prevented from dropping its full limit by the accumulatingpile of sheets, it'will at once inaugurate the action scend its full stroke, by allowing the oscil-I lating pawl to be spring-pressed into engagement with the ratchet which operates the devices for lowering the table.

From the foregoing description of the construction and operation of the machine embodied in this preferred form of my pile delivery governor mechanism, it will be observed that the height of the pile 22 on the receiving table 21 through the detector arm 62 is the sole controlling factor to bring about the inauguration of the operation of the table-lowering means when the height of such pile 22 exceeds a predetermined point. While it is preferable to actuate this governor mechanism from the sheetdelivery mechanism as herein shown and described, such mechanism mayalso be driven from any reciprocating or revolving member on the printing-press proper or on the sheetfeeding mechanism, as will be readily understood by those skilled in this art.

While the construction herein described embodies the invention in its preferred form, it will be understoodthat changes and variations may be made in the various parts without departing from the principles and scope" 2. The combination with a sheet-delivery mech anism,'of a sheet-receiving table, means normally' operative in each cycle ofoperation of the delivery mechanism for lowering the table, reciprocating means ycomprising a triplatch carried by an oscillating lever normally holding said table-lowering means out of operation when actuated in full stroke lll for inaugurating the action of said tablelowering means when restricted to limited stroke, and means for resetting said latch when tripped on the return stroke of said reciprocating means in position to hold said table-lowering means out of operation.

3f The combination with a sheet-delive-ry mechanism, of a sheet-receiving table, means normally operative in each cycle of operation of the delivery mechanism for -lowering the table, reciprocating means comprising a trip-latch carried by an oscillating lever normally holding said table-lowering means out of operation when actuated in full stroke for inaugurating the action of said tablelowering means when restricted to limited stroke in any cycle by the pile of sheets on said table, and means for resetting said latch when tripped on the return stroke of said reciprocating means in position to hold said table-lowering means out of operation before the next cycle of operation.

4. The combination with a sheet-delivery mechanism, of a sheet-receiving table, means normally operative in each cycle of operation of the delivery mechanism for lowering the table, reciprocating means comprising a trip-latch carried by an oscillating lever normally holding said table-lowering means out of operation when actuated in full stroke for inaugurating the action `of said tablelowering means when restricted to limited stroke, and means for automatically resetting said latch when tripped on the return stroke of said reciprocating means in position to holdsaid table-lowering means out of' operation.

5. The combination Wth'a sheet-delivery mechanism,' of a sheet-receiving table, means normally operative in each cycleof operation of the delivery mechanism for lowering the table, reciprocating means comprising a trip-latch carried by an oscillating lever normally holding said table-lowering means out of operation when actuated in full stroke for inaugurating the action of said tablelowering means when restricted to limited stroke in any cycle by the pile of sheets on said table, and meansv for automatically resetting said latch When tripped on the return stroke of said reciprocating means in position to hold said table-lowering means out of operation before the neXt cycle of operation.

CARL G. PRITCHARDr 

